Police to ex-cop on rampage: 'This has gone far enough'

Christopher Jordan Dorner is seen in a photo from a 2006 LAPD newsletter. Dorner was on the force until 2008, and he was a reservist in the U.S. Navy.

By Kari Huus and Tracy Connor, NBC News

Updated at 3:50 a.m. ET -- An ex-cop suspected of killing three people including a policeman and threatening to kill others — as laid out in a chilling online manifesto — continued to elude a massive manhunt early Friday despite local, state and federal agents following leads throughout Southern California.

Speaking to a packed press conference, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck chronicled the bloody events and called on the alleged gunman, 33-year-old Christopher Dorner, to turn himself in.

The FBI and Las Vegas police were at Dorner's Las Vegas home earlier Thursday. According to a statement released by the FBI, the surrounding neighborhood was cleared for safety reasons while a "law enforcement action" was completed.

Early Friday, the San Diego Sheriff's Department said it had received a call saying Dorner was at a home in the area. Units were at the scene but as at midnight local time (3 a.m. ET), officials said they had not taken any suspects into custody.

Dorner, a 270-pound former Navy reservist who was tossed off the police force in 2008, was acting out of revenge, according his 11,300-word treatise — a cached version of which was obtained by NBCLosAngeles.com — and was targeting not only perceived enemies, but their families as well.

Described as 'one of the more dangerous shooters we've seen in a long time,' police say 33-year-old Christopher Dorner has already killed three people and is gunning for more. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

"I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own, I’m terminating yours," Dorner wrote in his rambling manifesto, addressing LAPD officials he blamed for ruining his career.

"Look your wives/husbands and surviving children directly in the face and tell them the truth as to why your children are dead."

Dorner has an arsenal of weapons, including assault rifles, police said. Citizens were told to call 911 if they saw his truck, but warned not to approach him, describing him as "extremely dangerous."

Dorner is a 2001 graduate of Southern Utah University, where he majored in political science and minored in psychology and played football for at least two of those years, the university confirmed.

He was a lieutenant in the Navy Reserves from 2002 until this week, and earned a ribbon for rifle marksmanship and a medal for pistol expertise. He was honorably discharged.

He joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 2005 and was fired for making false statements in 2008.

Monica Quan, 28, and her fiancé, Keith Lawrence, 27, were fatally shot while parking their car at their apartment complex after a Super Bowl party. Quan is the daughter of retired LAPD Capt. Randy Quan, who represented Dorner at the internal review that led to his ouster.

On Wednesday, Dorner tried and failed to steal a boat in San Diego, Beck said. No one was hurt in that incident.

Hours later, he began targeting cops, they said.

At 1:25 a.m., in Chino, LAPD cops assigned to protect someone named in the manifesto came under fire. One cop suffered a graze wound to his head, "literally inches from killing him," Beck said.

Twenty minutes later, in Riverside, he ambushed two cops stopped at a red light. One officer was killed and the other is in stable condition.

Police in Riverside said that they had notified the family of the slain policeman, but did not reveal his identity out of concern that it might endanger his family members.

Tensions were high across the region, where cops on protection details wound up injuring innocent civilians.

At 5:15 a.m. in Torrance, police assigned to watch the home of a potential target got a report of a vehicle like Dorner’s in the area, and then spotted it driving with the lights off.

Police fired at the vehicle and wounded two women who were out delivering newspapers. The Los Angeles Times reported that one was shot in the back and one in the hand and both were taken to local hospitals for treatment. The back of their blue pickup was riddled with bullet holes, the report said.

"Tragically we believe this was a case of mistaken identity by the officers," said Chief Beck.

Later in the day, dozens of cops surrounded a motel in San Diego where a man matching Dorner’s description was reported to be holed up. KNSD said police eventually confirmed the man inside was not the suspect.

"It's extremely intense," Sgt. Rudy Lopez said of the dragnet to capture the suspect before anyone else is killed.

"We're trying to identify where he's been, where he's going. In this case, we are the targets. He's brazen. He's on a hunt to do whatever havoc he can."

Dorner’s manifesto, titled "Last Resort," is a road map of his rage over being tossed off the force. He claims that he was punished for accusing his field training officer of brutalizing a mentally disabled man.

"The attacks will stop when the department states the truth about my innocence, PUBLICLY!!!" he wrote.

Half of it chronicles the wrongs Dorner says he suffered, stretching all the way back to a racial slur used against him in the first grade. He portrays the LAPD as rife with racism, corruption and abuse.

There is a long passage in which he expresses support for an assault-weapons ban, and a plea that his brain be preserved for scientific research on the effects of depression.

The document also contains page after page of praise for friends, political figures, journalists and celebrities and opinions on issues of the day — from women in combat to the boycott of Chick-fil-A.

Mostly, though, he talks about his bloodthirsty plans. He claims his arsenal includes "Bushmaster firearms, Remington precision rifles" and silencers and boasts that his knowledge of police tactics will allow him to elude capture.

"I know I will be villified (sic) by the LAPD and the media," he wrote. "Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my name."

In addition to posting his manifesto online, Dorner also reached out directly to CNN, mailing a package to anchor Anderson Cooper's New York office, according to CNN. The package contained a hand-labeled DVD, a yellow Post-it note reading, in part, "I never lied," and a coin wrapped in duct-tape.

According to CNN, the tape was inscribed with the words "Thanks, but no thanks, Will Bratton," and the letters "IMOA." The coin is a souvenir medallion from former L.A.P.D. Chief William Bratton, CNN said, but it appears to have been shot-through with bullet holes.

CNN told law enforcement about the parcel.

At an emotional press conference in Riverside, home to the fallen officer, Police Chief Sergio Diaz said that judging by Dorner’s manifesto, the fugitive had a "depraved mind and heart."

Diaz, like his counterpart in Los Angeles, said the suspect should turn himself in.